Lotus

I'm normally supportive of Pardew, but from those quotes he must think we're absolute imbeciles. No, but 3 posters on here will definitely think you are

The Pessimism Police will be all over that post pal. Never bad mouth the Pards with a game coming up

Would be awesome to see him in that kind of form again.

Ooh, you little bitch !

The bloke is a spineless w*nker who is not in it for the right reasons. However i hope the slimey sh*thead puts out a team with the right attitude on Saturday as that's the bit that counts.

Wouldn't be surprised if Pardew thinks he'll be better at combating Benteke. That's because he might be. As far as physical attributes go, probs Taylor and MYM would be our better combo. Colo is such a master at reading the game though it's crazy to think about omitting him. He doesn't anywhere near the pace or power to compete on that level with Villa's frontline but his brains should be enough. Our midfield will need to be excellent on Saturday. If they can close Villa out it will force them to go long or down the flanks and we could be alright there. What i don't want to see is them just pinging it effortlessly through the middle like we're not even there. Our midfield stays tight and competitive then i think we have a front 3 who can worry them.

And that makes a central defender worse than useless. Mental that so many managers kept trying to get something from him that wasn't there. He wasn't worse than useless, though. He had far more good games than bad. He couldn't be relied upon to concentrate. Obvious to everyone. I know all fans have a mancrush or some player or other but Bramble ain't worth the love.

I agree. Some big decisions for Pardew for this. Don't envy him actually. He'll be worried about MYM and Anita and i can see why (both are better footballers, clearly), sometimes you need some size. Especially if the opposition have it abnd use it. If we could get our midfield 5 to actually work effectively as a unit then i think we could get something from this. I can imagine Villains will be thinking that a trio of Weimann, Benteke and Agbonlahor will scare the crap out of our defence and i can see why. I sincerely hope that Cisse, Remy and HBA scare the crap out of theirs. We've certainly the talent to do so.

Thing is, as frustrating as Robert could be at times, he actually contributed to a lot of goals. Never underestimate the value of someone who can whip in a quality ball early. CF's always have and always will love that kind of player.

Never ceases to amaze me how Scousers try and distort fairly simple reasoning and rationale to present the whole Carroll affair as a great deal for them.

Coloccini is a better player.

Have enjoyed listening to Gus Poyet's analysis of games. Been very insightful. Seems to really know his stuff and can pinpoint things in an instructive way.

You are right about the loan notes, they were structured. Given that the club lost £32 million in 2007 and was technically insolvent it must be possible that would have consituted a breach of covenant? Incidentally apart from the stadium loan notes the club also had a further chunk of about £25 million (from memory) of debt outstanding in the summer of 2007. I have quoted your paragraph above, as I'm not so sure about it. Clearly Spurs have done something like that over the years but they are an exception rather than a rule. There is a bit of Everton about it. I'm not sure the supporter base would be too receptive to a new ownership regime creating another Everton. Maybe I'm wrong. It is a club that lives within its means but a lot of the fan base criticise the board for lacking ambition (ambition = money). Haing ambition does not equal operating beyond your means. It means having the will and determination to improve and grow. Mix that with some ability and we have the potential to improve and grow in stature both on and off the field. As there is a total lack of will or determination the talent that could help realise it will keep well away. Naturally. The able and the apathetic are not natural bedfellows.

The source of the debt is irrelevant, the fact was we were built on unsustainable credit, we needed an owner with deep pockets, we got one, could have been better oh aye, BUT the resultant carnage had we not got one would dwarf the current situation in terms of criticality IMO. That's not a defence btw, just a statement of the facts as I see them. Then you're not comparing apples with apples so don't bother. You bring up to clubs as comparison when in actuality the situations were very different. I think he was just comparing football clubs who have financial stability issues. Then use examples that are in some way relevant and comparable. Otherwise it highlights nothing tbf.

The source of the debt is irrelevant, the fact was we were built on unsustainable credit, we needed an owner with deep pockets, we got one, could have been better oh aye, BUT the resultant carnage had we not got one would dwarf the current situation in terms of criticality IMO. That's not a defence btw, just a statement of the facts as I see them. Then you're not comparing apples with apples so don't bother. You bring up to clubs as comparison when in actuality the situations were very different.

To me he doesn't appear to restructured the way we're run for us to able to manage without him. Commercial revenue has decreased. There's nothing on the pitch worth a hike in season ticket pricing. Does this make us an attractive option to buy?

Mashley has zero footballing ambition for NUFC. Which is clearly good enough for some. We should be grateful tbh.

Quayside. I haven't said you are defending Ashley's idiocy. Ozzie quoting your posts to defend it though so it was directed at him. Things got out of shape under the Halls. Things are not going well under Ashley. I'd like to revisit a question i raised. I assume most clubs have their debt held by banks/financial insitutions (clearly not Chelsea and Mancity). If our debt was placed similarly to those other clubs. Would we be in good shape financially? Would we be in profit as we are now? Because, if not then the obvious conclusion is that Ashley is not running the club optimally. Or even close to it. All he would have done would be to shield the club from that kind of exposure but not set any means in place whereby it could operate free of him.

The arguement is that our debt is now manageable. What i'd be interested in knowing is what state we'd be in if our debt was still to banks/financial institutions. Has Mashley improved the financial running of the club to the extent that, comparing apples with apples, our balance sheet would we significantly improved. Because, if all he's done is make the debt attributable to himself and therefore reduce the interest payments but has not in anyway improved our means of increasing revenues i'd say his financial management hasn't been as magnificent as prothletised. He's no Daniel Levy

Not quite understanding the glorious point that Ozzie seems to think he's highlighting out of Quayside's analysis that we all seem to be missing. We all know the finances looked unsustainable under the last regime towards the end. WE ALL KNOW THAT. Quayside then goes on to say that our current management structure is worse than embarrassing and that, and this is ENTIRELY factual, we have a worse average league position under Ashley than the Halls.

He's from Newcastle isn't he? Would think family and friends would be leaning on him in a big way to get some info.

I think decorating the insides of Carl Fletcher's missus amongst other rumours while Pard's own wife was sufferring from depression rather tainted him before he even turned up at SJP tbh. Then he lied about not knowing Hughton was for the sack. That sort of thing probs goes on a lot with managers though.

Maybe Anita at some point. We'd at least want our money back and i can't see anyone paying £7m for Anita unless he actuall has a decent season of 30+ starts.

The players we have that are genuinely good enough to tempt bigger clubs are Cabaye and HBA. HBA is inconsistent and has a bit recent history with injuries (still my favourite player) and Cabaye does want out. The next 2 to appear on other clubs wish lists will be Sissoko and MYM. I don't think we've a squad littered with players other teams are desperate to take off of us tbh.